SanTanValley.com

Senator Barbara McGuire, who represents a wide swath of Pinal County as District 8 Senator, was instrumental in ensuring that Pinal County would again receive an appropriation from Arizona Lottery revenues.  The $550,000 that McGuire secured for Pinal County will be used to provide vital county services from road construction and emergency management to public health and safety.

Counties have historically received lottery revenues since 1986.  In the most recent year for which distributions were made, $7.65 million went to counties – $550,000 for each of the 13 rural counties and $250,000 each for Pima and Maricopa counties.  In 2011, lottery revenue sharing was eliminated to assist the state in resolving its budget crisis.  

No Need to Pay High Fees for Documents Available Directly from County

A Phoenix-based firm is mailing carefully worded letters to selected property owners in Pinal County offering to obtain a copy of their property deed for a payment of almost $100.  Homeowners may obtain a copy of their deed from the Recorder's Office for a small fee, usually less than five dollars.

The Pinal County Board of Supervisors recently passed a tentative budget for the upcoming fiscal year.  The vote was unanimous for passage of this document.  The tentative budget came out to $373,723,558.

As your district representative to the board, I would like to tell you what is in this tentative budget.  I am pleased to tell all of you that there are two significant road projects coming to our area.  Many of you know that the Hunt Highway expansion is currently underway.  This budget has money set aside for the phase 1 and 2 of this project which is north of Gary Road.  

Is it fair that families who live within city or town limits receive more than double the police protection?  Almost 212,000 Pinal residents do not live in a city or town and are the primary responsibility of the Sheriff’s Office. We have 209 deputies for 212,000 residents who live in the unincorporated county areas like San Tan Valley, Gold Canyon, Hidden Valley, Queen Valley, Arizona City, San Manuel, Oracle, Saddlebrooke and portions of Casa Grande and Apache Junction.  Local Police Departments have over 540 full time Police Officers to protect 170,000 residents within the city limits and tribal reservations.

In the past two days, two Pinal County Sheriff’s Office deputies have been assaulted during traffic stops.

On Monday at 5:20 p.m., a K-9 deputy patrolling westbound Interstate 10 initiated a traffic stop on a pickup for traffic violations. The pickup truck driver pulled over near milepost 188. The deputy was presented with a Mexican Electoral Card identifying the driver as Raul Hernandez-Lopez, 24-years-old, of Mexico. The deputy asked the suspect to exit the vehicle. Hernandez-Lopez then started to accelerate his pickup truck toward the deputy and back onto the roadway.

The city of Apache Junction is one step closer to becoming a member of the Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport Au­thority with the town of Queen Creek and other local governing bodies.

At their June 5 meeting, members of the Apache Junction City Council voted unani­mously to approve the intergovernmental, joint powers and loan agreements neces­sary to serve on the authority’s board of directors.

County crews are preparing to apply chip seal to several roads in the San Tan Heights area.  The road resurfacing work is anticipated to last from Monday, June 10 to Friday, June 14.

A protective rock and emulsion seal will be applied on the road surface to extend the life of the roads.  The application of this material is highly weather-dependent with ideal conditions taking place in the spring and fall.

The Pinal County Board of Supervisors today adopted a tentative budget in the amount of $373,723,558 for the upcoming fiscal year of 2013-14.

The document presented to the board by County Manager Fritz A. Behring, reflected budget numbers based on priorities set by the Board of Supervisors in public meetings that began in February.  Key priorities included:

Pinal County employees interested in becoming foster parents attended a “Lunch and Learn” seminar sponsored by the Pinal County Employee Wellness Coalition.

The presentation was given by Chrissy Edwards, a program coordinator for Arizona’s Children Association.

“There are currently 77 Pinal County kids in group homes right now,” Edwards said.  “We want to get them out and into a real home.”

Four one-week old Rottweiler puppies found in a Florence dumpster have been reunited with their mother and will be looking for good homes sometime soon.

The saga of the newborn puppies began on Tuesday morning when a Florence resident filed a report with the Florence Police Department claiming that his adult Rottweiler and her puppies were taken from his backyard.

A neighbor found the puppies later that day when he was dumping a load of garbage and heard them whimpering in a box.  The neighbor contacted the owner and turned the puppies over to him.